OCR Text

Lethbridge Herald, The (Newspaper) - May 3, 1910, Lethbridge, Alberta
William T. the natural- ist, says jiket two the for t dom tctujilly Cgbt. tigers, put into first time, sel- They bristle up front of and a hostile" crowd: their hair; and and snarl. One ol UMMO tfeat his wiarl isn't the real thing and sulkily surrenders. Tfcus animals test that subtle and almost mysterious quality, called tBe "fighting It is not exactly the same as cou' rage: it is altogether different Irooi toe mere self-confidence; something more than consciousness of It is something inside which tells you that you can't be beaten. Some- thing that makes you feel yourself a vicUr when your- ship is Kinking. Some nations and soine races are fill- bawling behind him, Thai the crowd ..will. be hostile, without question, is jiot the least in- First, Jim Jeffries, the white man, is not the natural fighting type. He is an amiable bull, goaded to combat, ra- teresting phase. Thoughtful meu are thai i.h S'fteht-wi 1-increase convinced that this fight will increase race hatred. Many even predict a pronounced'increase in race noting.U Johnson should win. The ual perusal of cannot, fail to Die Sporting papers impress anyone with ed with it to a marked degree. There is 'about to be a most test pf the extent to which the race has it. This test is to be a prize fight betweett- Jim Jeffcies, a white man ol almost pure Anglo on type, and Jack Johnson, for the championship of the worl-1. It is very curiously true that rt Jefries-Johnson fight will le c.iiite as interesting to the -psych K it u" the ethnologist as to the sport.. The of the negro race has been tested on a hundred battle fields. One of the most desperate ex hibitions of valor in the history o modern warfare was the ci the negro troops before 1'etersbnrg. The colored troops stood like, a jook at San Juan ol the white 'troops faltered. In the of the American Indian wars ii.a the plains, the Ninth and Tenth cavalry and Twenty-fourth and Tweaty- fifth infantry showed that negro troops'will endure any hardship and face any danger, however horrible. But they bad officers and their offic- ers were white men and the very high- eat type of white men. says of the charac- ters in Bernard Shaw's play, Arms and the Man, "the courage to rage and kill is cheap. I have an English bull terrier who has as-much of that sort of courage as the whole Bulgarian nation and the wholp Rus- sian nation at its back. But he lets my groom' thrash him just the same. That's your sokiier all over." NOT BEHIND HIM When Jack Johnson faces Jim Jef- fries in. the. prize ring, he will not have behind him a -white, officer whom he has learned to trust and obey as a child trusts its mother. He will be alone on his own rcsourc cs with the champion of the world in the feeling of racial bitterness that already denotes this fight. Jeffries s spoken of as "the hope of tbe white race." This.coining'ethnological test, to.ig norc the sporting side, is particularly significant because the men are so evenly matched physically. You may j-ay thai it is solely a question of the "fighting heart" of-the negro. as the prestidigitator say rolling up his sleeves, "is the appar- atus with which the "oxperamut if performed.' and luckily for himself, is hard to in- fluence, PoMibiy race has much to do with it. professional fighting.meu are CeKs, Battling Nelson is i Dtfc of the lat- ter crop of now are coming to the front, are Jews and Italians, of o say, lie is not of the fighting type I no matter what tin- si-asou, and imi-. saw the chance for t-he knockout blow f animal. HB is instinctively a box-1 tatiou diamonds, as r. Jeffries is a bull; omc kind of fastidious jungle cat. Plainsmen sav that cue of the most side-Hue of Portuguese. He is best and- best under- stood Britisher, He has a Bri- ROUND STREET (Opposite the Balmoral Hotel) FOUR GOOD TABLES'. Quick Lunch Counter In Connection from 7.30 a. m. till 12.00 p. m Four Good Union Barbers Every Customer Receives Caretul Attention Only tKe best Hair Tonics used BATHS SHOE SHINE C. L Upton, Proprietor Pool Room A. C. Messer, Prop. Barber Shop Some prize fighters, notably Batti- ng Melton, are as naturally fighting animals as are short-haired dogs, i _ They fight because love fighting. is They fight'on Ibe slightest provoca- tion. They fight from. pure blood lUSt; Jeffries, on the other hand, is not in the least pugnacious. .Fighting, with Mm, is not instinctive. Just before his retirement, he con- fided to a newspaper friend that he cordially detested pme-fighting and never would have stepped into the ring if he could have made as much money any other- way. Temperamentally, he is slow and but sound of.decision, with a fund of practical common sense. "He talks very little; is peculiarly irresponsive respect for authorityc a Bril- iifa horror of making a "show" of himself; Eagliih .shywffs. that it ixWea under an aid a'mind yoiir-own business air As a boy at school, Jeffrlnwr was a diffident, obedient plodder who strug gled doggedly and without inspiratio over his lessons; aeWom got into as saucers.-! hammered in all bis might. emarkable sights of. the world is to ee a cat fight a snake, .Pussy sits placidly, apparently payiag not the slightest attention to the snake as the alter coils up and gets ready to strike. But as the long sinuous bead Jarts out to the attack, she-stops him with a bifl in mid air, digging ior claws in behind the head; then she resumes her thoughtful attitude of complacency. Johnson is j Thus attired, they would tread up j nol drop but and down Spring Street with i bored in for more, soniethmg seemed and thfi elegance that only a Li) out. of the colored fighter. Thul's very much the way Johnson fights in the prize'ring. His flashes of motion are a most extraordinary j through up darkey can assume. la a. week-tuny, would be broke anu j Johnson has 'fought tough, hard hanging pathetically upon the favor of but tlu-y have always dtop- the white, manager again for pork Ij M he got ri.aay to drop chops. Johnson still has the same tendt-n- cies; only now his diamonds an- real and he substitutes fast-going automo-! biles for his majestic eakewalk up and down the actors' promenade. As soon .as he had- become cham-' vill nol THK OlirnCAL MOMENT It be-inh-rc'Sting to watch the cfurr. upon his fighting spirit when lie rushes in with tlu> knockout blow, up- on an Hiormous bulk that, perhaps, That will the crucial moment for. pion, ha discarded his negro wife for the more elegant white variety. (Johnson aiul, in a uav for the fight- The ambition of his life is to-rush] a the streets at breakneck j me race. schoolboy iSgftts and no troubl for the ,V With gome 250 pounds of solid mus- cle developed at the torges of. an iron foundry, Jefiries simply had to be- conie a fighter. He was too big not to prize fighter. It was uphill for him. It was hard for him to to box. He was hopelessly slow. But unskill ed as he was; he fought with dogged pertinacy and a strength that was simply prodigious. It is a tradition of the-prize ring that Jeffries has never dared to hit a man with his full strength for fear of killing him. In time, and by painstaking effort, Jeffries finallv learned to box well, spectacle. There is no room to doubt that he has never had a superior as a boxer. speed iu a racing automobile and be stared at. Iking arrested for speed- ing and paying, his fine from a pocket to go into a description of bulging with money is his idttt.ofbe- punches and jabs, this remarkable ing impressive. He likes to use big words thatmcaa. It will be the test a'negro, without nioral support can figliL when the fight is going against him. In .that moment, when Johnson de- livers. the blow that fails, all the su- nothing in particular, lie is delight-1 Postilions awe in which has held skill is interesting as illustrating a phase of Johnson's character. When you sec him box in his train-' to accept invitations to deliver Champion, and all the backs of ing quarters, or even in the ring, you! turt-s before associations of colored his race that have bent before the arc impressed with two facts, that he people. Having been around so much white men, will come to him in a never seems to be really in earnest with men of affairs, and having been j flash. Then we will sec if Johnson about it; and that he fights very much in the public eye for so long, John-'can brush aside that feeling and fight with a sort of heavy, bo vine skill of execution. It must be confessed, however, thai most of his fights were won more by his overpowering gigantic strength than by any other quality. .One of the fiercest fights was with Sharkey, a rough, ignorant sailor. It resembled the collision of two loco- motives; Jeffries was the stronger lo- comotive. Bob Fitzsimmons lashed him with blows over the eyes until Jeffries was almost blind; but became exhausted by effort of pounding this mountain of strength. At the end of his last fight-with Jim Cor- bftt, the latter saM as they were car- rying him to-his corner: "It's no use; he's too big and Strength has always been his big asset. In all these -Jeffries showed ability to endure no such sublime indifference to blows as is shown by natural-born fighters like Nelson. The'.truth is, Jeffries never develop ed any remarkable talent for fighting. If Young Corbett or Bat Nelson or Terry' McGovern had been Jim Jef- fries' size-any one of them could have whipped a whole regiment of Jeffries a sport. He had no'talent for heroics. His instincts were cautious and respectable. He afraid of being a hero. Newspaper reports at first terrified him, then bored him. They tried to make hin an'actor; and the result was some thing strange and wonderful. Jeffries realized it. Every time he came off the stage into the wings, he would complain bitterly that they were mak- ing a fool of him. For the same reason, he never would be interviewed. Reporters ne- ver got anything out of him but mo- nysyllables. When he had fought every one vho presented himself, Jeffries retired; got married, became a rancher, loaned his name to a saloon, and became a staid well-behaved man of business. His return to the ring was brought about solely by the chance to make a great deal of easy money. Perhaps, also, a little, on account of the pre- :udice, born of his iron-worker days, against a negro, anri his secret re- spect for the championship. Any fighter with theatrical instincts would have hurst back into the rrg with a blast of defianee, but, in his slow, earnest way, Jeffries would not at first give an answer, because he said (unheroically) he was not sure he could win! That's the sort of a man after the manner of a rapier fencer. He has the mind of a child, or a the foil fencer. His defence seems to be without the slightest effort. Dur- ing his fight Vilh the dangerous Tom- my Burns, the negro carried on a careless conversation with the ring- j side spectators. While Burns was: making his most furious, if futile, as- saults. .Johnson asked onlookers about the climate of and chatted about the size of the audience, as though Burns were merely a little child playing about his knees. His defence was so fine and "adroit that he seemed only to be pushing away the vicious little fight champion with his hands. Burns furiously pounded the air, like "an angry baby. sort has picked'up a sort of "patter" ion with the exalted conviction that and .an'.etiquette, both of which hejlfE can't lose either, practices'with excruciating elegance. Many, of Johnson's adherents point Result: In. the art of being interview- i back at the black man's career and cd, he makes-Jeffries-look-.like a dub. show that he has never hard THE ANIMAL j to win. Like so itianv elements of Is it not perfectly obvious that a j this meeting of the white and black, simple ehiJd of .the jungle like, this this is temperamental. darkey with his "coon" diamonds and Johnson can't work hard and'con- his striped shirts could not direct his j tinuousiy 'in a prize light. He hasn't marvellous fighting defence by con- the concentration. The same trait scions 'that makes him hear the shouts of It follows that- Johnson is more I the. crowd makes him appear to be nearly the perfect .animal than Jeff-I "fooling the ring, rics. He has the advantage of being i He fights by flashes. the more primitive brute. James -J. Jeffries can look out for Jeffries, the prize fighter, is the the. "flashes" as the side-1 product of painful, conscious effort; i show barker announces, "ihe sting of Johnson-of an agility that is un-'death is in every blow." as Burns started a j thought and purely instinctive. The ballalo bull can look out for blow, Johnson would shoot his brown In the Darwinian days, Jeffries was j the sudden leap of the lazy-looking arm across and land like a catapult. a big old .water-buffalo >nd Johnson panther. on the white man's face before was a panther; but it is evident that, fist could reach him. after Jeffries left the jungle, Johnson These fight details arc related for i stuck around and practiced for the purpose of laying a foundation million years. for this question: JURY RETURNS ODD VERIDCT One of the oddest verdicrs of a cor- oner's jury ever ro-iurned was that serve, have improved anv in the sense dcalh of Louis a bookmaker m lhe hal Where does this ridiculous negro of being pugnacious. The buffalo and Kompton park. get the brain power to direct this re-, the panther W have to. j ca markable art oi fighting? with him it is an art. To land a "counter" blow, the fol- lowing thoughts must Hash through the brain of the fighter: This man is in the act of striking me with his right hand. 1 can sec his fist, coming. THE CON-TEST When Jeffries, the sedate" mechanic, j his induced evcstovnent v-ausoci thit' to- meets this amusing but adroit barian, the general opinion is nun.-, Johnson will be overawed and genet-! OW i Kotnrr UTtrtlVll I T> ally seared to death. It is a mistake, however, to sup- pose that Johnson is actually afraid Wlt upon I I will strike him with my left hand j Of Jeffries. The danger that he faces whom the "fighting heart" of the ne-1 and break the force of his blow by] is more subtle; it is Jeff's Anglo-Sax gro race is to be tried. In a wor'l, Jeffries is a commonplace, uninterest- ing mechanic with enormous strength and full supply of Anglo-Saxon ite- termination of spirit. NOW FOR JACK Jack Johnson j Whatever Jeffries lacks injiictirc- squencss is made up by Johnson, the negro. Johnson is the Kimi of snort-v hitting him before he hits me. goes! Almost all Johnson's counter Mows. He almost Here ion will power. j It has been observed that the weak- arc j ness of colored fighters is their never imagination and their susceptibility "Tho camo !Ptn ,-jr, intuit ringsirlo. a cake walk. A logician could see Johnson and (or rather the jun- gles of South' Africa. Seeing John- son arrayed in his diamonds the day- after winning a prize fight, the thoughtful visitor from Mars would know that, somewhere on this earth, there must savages who hang rings through their noses, and, dancing na- ked by the light of tbe jungle moon, answer the howl of the gorilla with tneir yells. Johnson is not very far removed from the whom Kipling conceded to be a "big, black, boundin' but first-class fighlin' Jeffries, however, the negro !s ot White Ivy never i-rowd niter the fighi once i begins. Taking advantage of tins exception of his 1 (rait of colored men, ifu-ir white np- as strong as the call th-'-m vile names and sta- _ j 4 11 _: sbouMers, but with slender and not i fighters assert that very strong logs. The recent exprri-1 hear the ments in the Yale gymnasium shov. ed lhat, with the arms, he was not athletes on the Vale teams. ED, KENNEDY not instinctively a He has the mind oi a child, or a barbarian. Most of his early fights wi-re, m Los Angeles. He, was practi.-aliv the slave of his manager, u-, that icr.ofl. j Thevjnanager supported 1 ;r onrl thus acquired the to r.tarly ,i'l. his winnings. After .-aeh fmhT his "maskr" would hand hin A !ars and Johnson wo-i'-l vi'JJ; the rialto, blazing with' dia- monds, broad-soled shoes the most astovinsEag striped shirts. That is' iHs wife would appear in new furs, the ring yell ri ;he hope oi driv- i wild fits of tion men about bald abose in ing them into gro wrath. TToweveV, this is of small import- ance. Johnson's danger is tho susceptibility to an altogether difier- rnt sort of impression; that oi being attacked bv Loss oi morale, army men call Joe Gans would have be.xtm (ling Kelson with ease at but for the fact that he beat'down the white boy's VeHcl; himself. Two or three bdern Appliances r Good Barber?
;